READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 174 - Coexistence (4)
Chapter 174. Coexistence (4)
Long, black eyelashes fluttered.
“Umm…”
A small groan echoed briefly.
The trembling eyelids suddenly flew open.
Glint—.
Revealing golden eyes.
Blink, blink—.
Contrary to the sudden opening of his eyes, Yuri stared blankly at the ceiling without any thoughts.
‘Where is this…?’
A familiar ceiling.
It was within the crack, his own safe haven.
‘Why am I… here?’
He clearly recalled attaining enlightenment and uncovering the secret behind the technique that Segyung had demonstrated.
‘What happened after that?’
He vaguely remembered drawing his sword and performing the sacred technique instinctively.
And that was as far as Yuri’s memory went.
‘How did I end up lying here? How did I get here?’
As Yuri blinked, struggling to recall his memories,
“If you’re awake, get up already. How long do you plan to lie around like that?”
A familiar, slightly irritated voice prompted Yuri to sit up.
And when he turned his head toward the source of the voice,
“Ah, when did you get here, Old Man…?”
Yuri, who was about to address the owner of the voice naturally, flinched and stopped.
“…”
He paused, his head tilting slightly.
“…Who are you?”
The voice was undoubtedly that of the old man he knew, but the appearance was entirely different.
This person had darker hair than the old man he knew.
His skin was more youthful and firm than that of the old man he knew.
The old man appeared somewhat younger?
Yes, as if…
“…Like an old man who got younger?”
The moment that muttering ended, punishment came swiftly.
Smack—!
A crisp sound echoed as Yuri’s head tilted back.
Grabbing his forehead, Yuri shot up.
“Ow! That hurts!”
“I hit you so it would hurt.”
In the all-too-familiar situation and dialogue, Yuri had to accept that the old man in front of him was indeed the Johan he knew.
A surprised Yuri asked,
“What’s going on, Old Man? Did you really get younger? How did that happen?”
Johan flinched at the question.
He waved his hands dismissively.
“That’s a story for later. First, check your body.”
“My body?”
At Johan’s suggestion, Yuri checked his own condition.
‘My limbs are fine, nothing seems to be hurting.’
And finally, when he circulated his mana,
His eyes widened, and a stunned voice escaped him.
“O-Old Man! It’s gone… It’s gone!”
“What is?”
“My mana core… My mana core is gone!”
“What?!”
Johan was just as shocked by this revelation.
‘That can’t be! It was perfectly fine when I checked just a moment ago!’
He urgently grabbed Yuri’s wrist and examined his condition.
A few minutes later.
Whack—!
With an overwhelming smack, a flick struck Yuri’s forehead, causing him to roll backward a few times.
“Argh!”
Holding the painful, swollen bump on his forehead, Yuri shouted in frustration.
“Why did you hit me!”
“Nothing’s gone, you fool. Check properly before you speak.”
“I’m telling you, it’s really gone!”
“What’s gone? Nothing’s gone! Damn it, to think I’d give my mana to such a fool…”
“…?”
“What are you gawking at? Look properly!”
Johan’s outburst caused Yuri to shrink back strangely. Sitting upright, Yuri immediately began his meditation.
How much time passed like that?
‘Oh…?’
Just as Johan said, when Yuri observed his inner self, he was taken aback.
He shouted in alarm.
“Old Man! My… my mana core has… turned into an empty watermelon!”
Although the expression was lacking, there was no other way to accurately describe Yuri’s state.
Yuri’s mana core was exactly in that condition.
The reason he felt his mana core had disappeared was that the core, now about the size of a small watermelon, was completely hollow.
‘What is this?! Why has my mana core ended up like this?!’
While a normal mana core is a solid sphere, Yuri’s current mana core was spherical but hollow inside.
‘Ah, maybe it’s not completely empty?’
A tiny cluster of mana clung to the vast interior of the mana core, like a small lump.
‘What is this now? It’s not a nipple, is it?’
How was he supposed to make sense of this situation?
Seeing Yuri’s confusion, Johan let out a small sigh.
“Hah, you…
He then began to explain what had happened while Yuri was unconscious.
After listening to Johan’s story for some time, Yuri’s eyes widened, and he blinked repeatedly.
“So… my mana core almost shattered, but you stopped it, Old Man?”
“Lucky fool. If it weren’t for me, your mana core would’ve been shattered long ago. If it weren’t for me!”
It was exactly as Johan said—there was no other way to explain it except that Yuri was incredibly lucky.
If Johan had arrived even a day later, Yuri’s mana core would have been truly destroyed.
Johan subtly emphasized his contributions.
A normal person would have simply expressed gratitude.
But Yuri was different.
Sensing something off, Yuri narrowed his eyes.
“Speak.”
“W-What?”
“You’re hiding something from me, aren’t you?”
“Hiding? You ungrateful brat! I saved you when you were at death’s door!”
Johan’s sudden outburst made Yuri narrow his eyes even further.
A chilling voice escaped him.
“…By the way, Old Man?”
“…”
“How did you suddenly get younger?”
“Younger, my ass!”
“You must have consumed something good, huh?”
“T-That’s not true.”
Watching Johan avoid eye contact, Yuri quickly groped around his neck area.
But he didn’t find anything.
“W-Where is it?!”
“Well….”
“My… my elixir!”
“That… um…”
“Old Man, my elixir!”
“J-Just listen to me for a moment!”
As Yuri was about to lose his temper, Johan urgently shouted.
“There were reasons for that!”
Johan, fearing Yuri would blow up, hurriedly explained why he had no choice but to drink the elixir, speaking rapidly.
He emphasized that it was all to save Yuri and that he had no personal motives whatsoever.
Yuri listened in silence.
When he seemed unexpectedly calm, he asked,
“Phew… fine, I get it. But… why is my mana core like this? Why is it like an empty watermelon?”
“Well…”
Johan trailed off as if he knew something.
After a brief pause, he answered.
“…It’s because it’s not fully formed.”
“Huh?”
“Your mana core, it was left incomplete.”
“…?”
This was all because of Johan.
When his mana was being drained by Yuri, he realized.
If this kept up, his mana would be completely drained.
So, he forcefully cut off the supply of mana, leaving Yuri’s mana core in an unfilled state.
“Well… until your mana core’s empty interior is completely filled… it’ll be difficult for it to function properly.”
“My mana core… can’t be used anymore?”
“Hmm, it’s not that it can’t function, but… it’s just that it looks like that…”
“…looks like that?”
“Ahem, anyway, even if it looks like that, its performance isn’t compromised. It will deliver the same performance as a normal mana core. However…”
“However?”
“Don’t you feel some small protrusions inside your mana core?”
“These wobbly little nubs?”
“…Yes, those nubs represent all the mana you can currently use.”
“……”
“If you keep consuming elixirs or potions regularly to fill that empty space inside… you’ll eventually be able to use the full power contained in your mana core.”
Johan added a detailed explanation.
Seeing Yuri still keeping his mouth shut, Johan nervously continued explaining while breaking into a cold sweat.
“Th-that, still, don’t worry too much. It’s just a large and somewhat useless mana core… No! Just think of it as a mana core that’s only gotten slightly bigger!”
Yuri’s face darkened at Johan’s not-so-reassuring words.
Eventually, a chilling voice came out from him.
“So…”
“……”
“So, if I sum up what the old man said, the price I paid for gulping down the elixir was that all I got was this nub-like mana lump?”
“Hey! How can you say that’s all! Thanks to that, didn’t you at least get your mana core fixed! And do you think those nubs are just any ordinary nubs!”
Johan explained, patting his chest as if in frustration.
Of the 21% mana you took from me, 90% was used for the restoration of your mana core, and the remaining 10% took the form of those protrusions.
Yuri, who had been quietly listening, responded in a flat voice.
“Still, that’s just 2.1%, right?”
“You cursed brat… That 2.1% is far more than the mana you originally had! I restored your mana core and even gave you my precious mana… and you say ‘just’? Just!?”
Johan’s eyes flared with blue sparks.
His gaze was intense enough to make a timid person’s legs buckle.
But instead, Yuri snorted.
“How much mana do you have left, old man?”
“Well, you brought that up. Because of that elixir, I already had only 70% mana left, and thanks to you, I used up a lot of it! You ungrateful punk!”
“So, how much do you have left?”
“Half of it!”
“So, 50%, right? Then, what’s the purity?”
“……”
“How much did the purity increase after you took the elixir, huh?”
“……”
“Why can’t you answer? How much did it increase?”
“It… increased by… about 7%?”
“Oh? So now it’s 97%? Now, if you had to choose between 100 mana at 90% purity or 50 mana at 97% purity, which one would you pick, old man?”
Yuri smiled brightly as Johan’s eyes rolled around in agitation.
“Hmph! Of course, I’d choose the 100 mana at 90% purity!”
Though he said that, Yuri knew it was a lie.
“You old man, trying to sell snake oil?”
“……”
“Wow, not only did it increase purity by a whopping 7%, it even made you feel so rejuvenated that you could get remarried! And after eating something that good, you give me a measly nub-like mana lump and brag about it? Isn’t that too much?”
Johan tightly shut his mouth.
In fact, he knew.
That apart from restoring a mana core that was on the verge of complete collapse, he was actually the one who gained more from this situation.
He had hoped to brush it off, expecting Yuri to make a fuss.
‘This sly punk!’
But Yuri didn’t let it slide.
Johan glared, shouting.
“You brat!”
“What?”
“Remarry! I haven’t even been married once!”
“……”
“……”
As Yuri’s expression faltered, Johan took the chance to shout again.
“And you obviously don’t know, but when you get old, eating healthy stuff isn’t always good! If you eat that stuff when you’re old, it just makes dying harder!
“……”
“You need to go quickly when your time comes, but instead, your life just stretches out and won’t end easily. Do you think I’ve seen only one or two old folks like that? When it’s time to go, you should go easily so that it’s easier for yourself and everyone around you!”
“……”
“So eating that elixir wasn’t entirely a good thing for me either!”
“Geez, you ate an elixir that others can’t even get their hands on, and this is what you have to say?”
“Hmm.”
“Anyway, congrats on your extended life, and let’s settle things up.”
“Settle? Settle what?”
“Well, it seems like I took a bit of a loss in this deal…”
“So?”
“You wouldn’t happen to have some spare elixirs or potions, would you? It feels like only those can soothe this empty mana core of mine.”
Johan sensed a strange familiarity from Yuri’s words and thought.
‘This brat, was he awake earlier?’
As Johan stared at him with that suspicion, Yuri got up from his seat.
“Think carefully! See if you’ve got any hidden elixirs or potions somewhere!”
“I wouldn’t eat that crap even if it killed me! But where are you going?”
“To Old Man Kkongsul. I need to settle the bet. He hasn’t left yet, has he?”
“He was here just a while ago… But what bet are you talking about?”
“Oh, that…”
Yuri briefly explained his bet with Segyung to Johan.
Johan snorted.
“You’re doing all this just to learn metallurgy, huh?”
“‘Just metallurgy’? ‘Doing all this’?”
It was the metallurgy bet that had given him two profound realizations.
To think he would utter such blasphemy about the sacred metallurgy bet!
Yuri shouted angrily as he moved past Johan and stood at the entrance.
Just as he was about to step out of the hideout.
“Oh, right. Old man.”
“What now?”
Johan frowned, expecting Yuri to nitpick about something else.
With his back turned to him, Yuri spoke.
“Thanks for the mana core.”
As soon as he finished saying those words, Yuri kicked the door open and dashed out.
Johan watched silently as Yuri left, clicking his tongue.
“Tsk, still an ungrateful brat without a shred of cuteness.”
Was it just his imagination, or did Yuri’s ears look a bit red as he dashed out?
Johan’s lips curled faintly into a smile before returning to their normal state.
Left alone in Yuri’s hideout, Johan stood quietly in the dim light, gazing at his hands where some of the age spots had faded, and let out a soft chuckle.
“Yeah, thanks to you, it seems I’ll live longer. Pffft.”
There was a faint hint of bitterness in Johan’s laughter.